Azad asks ICMR to speed up research in Malaria and Cancer

New Delhi, Dec 9 (ANI): Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has urged the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) scientists to put special efforts on transnational programmes so that affordable diagnostic solutions can be made available to people.

Azad specifically asked scientists to speed up research on Malaria and Cancer, "as the country needs these technologies now and cannot wait indefinitely.

"The Government not only expects ICMR to provide critical support to its national programmes by generating new knowledge about the diseases, develop and evaluate tools for diagnosis and treatment but also help in the framing of its policies for guiding research and providing feedback to the governments," he added.

Azad was chairing the meeting of the Consultative Committee of Parliament attached to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare here last evening.

Cutting across party lines the Members of the Committee appreciated work done by ICMR and desired that centenary celebrations of such an organization should be celebrated in a befitting manner spread across nearly 30 centres of ICMR countrywide.

It was also noted that ICMR is moving with the times and the latest institution added to ICMR network is National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEH) in Bhopal.

National Institute of Disease Informatics is going to be established soon at Bangalore. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) entered its centenary year on 15th November 2010.

Over its 99 years of existence, ICMR has contributed significantly towards better understanding of country's health problems and finding their solutions through research. (ANI)